Welcome to all the recent subscribers to this passion newsletter project of mine. I started writing Outsiders Rising because I wanted to share fascinating stories of immigrants who’ve made tremendous impact in their adopted countries. Being an immigrant myself, I am a huge proponent of immigration because I really do believe there is magic in being taken outside one's comfort zone and having to start afresh. I hope you find these stories as inspirational as I do.
Please do share this newsletter (using the links at the bottom) with those you think may enjoy it and encourage them to subscribe too.
Now, on to this week’s issue…
Outsiders Rising: Vitalik Buterin
Vitalik Buterin is a 27 year old man who was born in Russia in 1994. His father Dmitry was a computer scientist. The family emigrated to Canada when Buterin was 6 years old and that would alter his destiny forever. As a very gifted child, Vitalik was able to get access to top Canadian schools and top programs for gifted students that helped unlock his own computer science and mathematical genius.
Cryptocurrency beginnings
In 2011, at the advent of the cryptocurrency and blockchain revolution that’s since captured the world, a 17 year old Vitalik began writing for Bitcoin Weekly after meeting someone in an online Bitcoin forum who was willing to pay him in Bitcoin for writing. He was paid Five bitcoin for writing his first article. Five bitcoin was worth US$3.50 at the time and is worth almost US$250,000 today!
Later in 2011, Buterin co-founded Bitcoin Magazine which is widely recognized today as the first serious publication dedicated to cryptocurrency.
Ethereum
Buterin is a co-founder and inventor of Ethereum, described as a "decentralised mining network and software development platform rolled into one" that facilitates the creation of new cryptocurrencies and programs that share a single blockchain. Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system.
A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain.
Buterin first described Ethereum in a white paper in late 2013. In this paper, he argued that bitcoin needed a scripting language for application development. When he failed to gain agreement, he proposed development of a new platform with a more general scripting language.
About this Ethereum Project, Buterin has said: “I am truly grateful to have the opportunity to work in such an interesting and interdisciplinary area of industry, where I have the chance to interact with cryptographers, mathematicians and economists prominent in their fields, to help build software and tools that already affect tens of thousands of people around the world, and to work on advanced problems in computer science, economics and philosophy every week.”
Ethereum has grown exponentially in popularity since it was founded and is now the second most valuable cryptocurrency while being touted as having the highest potential for adaptability across industries.
Buterin’s net worth has grown to over US$21 billion since founding Ethereum. If you have owned some Ethereum over the past few years you’ve seen some fantastic returns too. That’s all thanks to Vitalik Buterin.
A true rising outsider.
Until next time… ✌🏾
Munatsi
Twitter: @Munatsi_
Twitter: @OutsiderRising
Catch up on the interesting issues from the past few weeks here: